This is for refinement of the survey.
Copy, paste, and edit the survey questions from the original Instructor Survey page to suit the way you think they ought to be here!
I moved the open ended questions to the end of the survey. I think that if the instructors think that they have a lot of questions requiring short answers at the beginning of the survey they may not want to take it. If we make the beginning easier with multiple choice answers, etc. I think more people would take it. J.B. 1.How often do you use the following resources in your classroom?
Resources
Never
1-3 times a week
4 or more times week
Adobe Connect
Blackboard or WebCT
Blogs
Campus website
Email
Multimedia projector
Overhead projector
PowerPoint
Videos/DVDs
Wikis
Your own course website
Other (Please list.)
I thought a chart might make it easier to collect data. What do you guys think? Silvana: This chart organizes the information more effectively and it is easy to complete. Do you think it needs so many choices of times in a week? No, probably not. Just wanted to cover the possible answers. I noticed that there is no space for never so I will make some changes to it. Should there be a section in the table for "other" resources? It's possible instructors utilize another tool for their class. - Paul Whitten Looking at this question again, it said what resources are used to communicate. You can communicate with a projector, but you may use it as a resource in your classroom. I'm going to change the question because I think it's important to know what types of technology they are using or not using. What do you guys think? I think it you are right to be more specific. S.M.
2.Are you willing to attend professional development sessions to improve your technological skills and/or instruction?
A. Yes B. No 3.As an instructor I believe teacher-centered instruction is more effective than learner-centered instruction.
A. Agree
B. Disagree 4. Do you have a plan for instructional methods based on synchronous distance learning, asynchronous distance learning or a mix of both?
A: All Synchronous
B: All Asynchronous
C: A mix of Synchronous/Asynchronous
D. No plan
The above question seems a bit leading to me, if the intention of the survey is specifically for distance education. - Paul Whitten I agree with Paul this question not needed since they already want to use online courses. The question does not help us determine their readiness. I am deleting it. 5. How many students are you prepared to manage in an online course?
A. 25 or less
B. Over 25
6. How often do you plan on giving students individual feedback in the course?
A. Once a week
B. After major assignments/exams
C. During midterms and finals
D. Whenever the student asks
E. As much as is needed
7. What content do you intend on incorporating in your distance education course?
Justification: Not only do effective distance courses need relevant course material, (lecture notes, assignments, etc.) but they also need to welcome social interaction. “The absence of all the sensory cues normally present in face-to-face communications can reduce a web-based learning environment to a cold, sterile place. It is very important to emphasise being personal in
online communications” (Benfield, 2002).
Not only do instructors need to have a social element in the course, they also must use it themselves. This is the most effective way to show the learners how and why it is used. Megan - I like this question of Paul's. When I train faculty to use Blackboard, I typically start out by asking them what they want to use the course for. Most instructors have some sort of idea of what they want to do in the online course and they just need help doing that. Some courses are like ours where everything you need for the course is available to you other instructors just want to post handouts for students to have access to in case they missed class. I think having a question that makes instructors think about what they want to include in their course will be beneficial for instructors as they plan out their online course. Silvana: I liked this quesion too because it is important to identify your goals when you design a course so that you meet the needs of the learner. Thanks : ) - Paul Whitten
8. Can the content you currently teach in the classroom be adapted from a teacher-directed approach to include either online collaboration, case-based learning, and/or problem-based learning?
9. Would you be interested in teaching an online course?If so, why?If not, why not?
10. What do you know about distance education?
11. What don't you like about online instruction?
12. What do you fear about online instruction?
I'm not sure what you mean with this question. Didn't we ask about similar things in question one? RE: #13 I put it in because the research showed that students using the graphic version of an DL format spent approximately 25% more time per visit responding to it. The items in question one could also address this question, so I will delete #13. S.M.
13. Do you believe you would you spend more or less time preparing for a distance learning lesson compared to a traditional clssroom lesson? A. More B. Less
14. If one of your students encountered a major technical problem with a computer, what would you do? A. Let the student discover the solution. B. Try to fix it myself. C. Ask a colleague for assistance. D. Enlist the help of a technician.
Question # 2 touches on the instructors willingness to encounter technical problems. Is there a way to reword the question? If a student has a computer problem they might not be able to communicate with their instructor. It still weirds me out to mess with someone else's stuff, so for right now I just posted my questions in and deleted an extra #9 that I saw. I will work up towards editing the entire document--I promise! -Aaron
Silvana: Do we need to post all of our own questions here? I thought we were posting only the ones we wanted to include in the final document? I think we have too many open-ended questions? We want to make the survey easy to evaluate too.
Aaron: I agree--too many open-ended questions. I'll leave #14 for now, unless others think it should go. If so, please feel free to remove it. Thanks for setting up #1 as a chart--I am glad that you like that one! Have a good one!
Janelle: Number 10 and 14 were the same question, so I deleted 14.
I don't want to do all of these. Could someone look at these?
START OF THE SCORING GUIDE:
1. Never = 0 pts., 1-3 times a week = 1/2 pt., 4 or more times a week = 1 pt.
2. Yes, ready for online courses. No, not ready for online courses.
3. A. Yes = 1 pt., B. No = 0 pts.
4. A. Agree = 0 pts., B. Disagree = 1 pt.
5. A. 25 or less = 0 pts., B. Over 25 = 1 pt.
6. A, D = 1/2 pt., B, C = 0 pts., E. 1 pt.
7. 0 pts. if no mention of social interaction (discussion boards, blogs, wikis, Adobe Connect presentations), 1 pt. for each time mentioned in their answer
8. Yes = 1 pt., No = 0 pts.
9. Yes = 1 pt., No = 0 pts.
10.
11.
12.
13. More - ready for online courses; less, not ready for online courses
14. D = 1pt.
Those ready for online learning will score between x -x.
Those not ready for distance learning will score between x- x.
Copy, paste, and edit the survey questions from the original Instructor Survey page to suit the way you think they ought to be here!
I moved the open ended questions to the end of the survey. I think that if the instructors think that they have a lot of questions requiring short answers at the beginning of the survey they may not want to take it. If we make the beginning easier with multiple choice answers, etc. I think more people would take it. J.B.
1. How often do you use the following resources in your classroom?
I thought a chart might make it easier to collect data. What do you guys think?
Silvana: This chart organizes the information more effectively and it is easy to complete. Do you think it needs so many choices of times in a week?
No, probably not. Just wanted to cover the possible answers. I noticed that there is no space for never so I will make some changes to it.
Should there be a section in the table for "other" resources? It's possible instructors utilize another tool for their class. - Paul Whitten
Looking at this question again, it said what resources are used to communicate. You can communicate with a projector, but you may use it as a resource in your classroom. I'm going to change the question because I think it's important to know what types of technology they are using or not using. What do you guys think?
I think it you are right to be more specific. S.M.
2. Are you willing to attend professional development sessions to improve your technological skills and/or instruction?
A. Yes
B. No
3. As an instructor I believe teacher-centered instruction is more effective than learner-centered instruction.
A. Agree
B. Disagree
4. Do you have a plan for instructional methods based on synchronous distance learning, asynchronous distance learning or a mix of both?
A: All Synchronous
B: All Asynchronous
C: A mix of Synchronous/Asynchronous
D. No plan
The above question seems a bit leading to me, if the intention of the survey is specifically for distance education. - Paul Whitten
I agree with Paul this question not needed since they already want to use online courses. The question does not help us determine their readiness. I am deleting it.
5. How many students are you prepared to manage in an online course?
A. 25 or less
B. Over 25
6. How often do you plan on giving students individual feedback in the course?
A. Once a week
B. After major assignments/exams
C. During midterms and finals
D. Whenever the student asks
E. As much as is needed
7. What content do you intend on incorporating in your distance education course?
Justification: Not only do effective distance courses need relevant course material, (lecture notes, assignments, etc.) but they also need to welcome social interaction. “The absence of all the sensory cues normally present in face-to-face communications can reduce a web-based learning environment to a cold, sterile place. It is very important to emphasise being personal in
online communications” (Benfield, 2002).
Not only do instructors need to have a social element in the course, they also must use it themselves. This is the most effective way to show the learners how and why it is used.
Megan - I like this question of Paul's. When I train faculty to use Blackboard, I typically start out by asking them what they want to use the course for. Most instructors have some sort of idea of what they want to do in the online course and they just need help doing that. Some courses are like ours where everything you need for the course is available to you other instructors just want to post handouts for students to have access to in case they missed class. I think having a question that makes instructors think about what they want to include in their course will be beneficial for instructors as they plan out their online course.
Silvana: I liked this quesion too because it is important to identify your goals when you design a course so that you meet the needs of the learner.
Thanks : ) - Paul Whitten
8. Can the content you currently teach in the classroom be adapted from a teacher-directed approach to include either online collaboration, case-based learning, and/or problem-based learning?
9. Would you be interested in teaching an online course? If so, why? If not, why not?
10. What do you know about distance education?
11. What don't you like about online instruction?
12. What do you fear about online instruction?
I'm not sure what you mean with this question. Didn't we ask about similar things in question one?
RE: #13 I put it in because the research showed that students using the graphic version of an DL format spent approximately 25% more time per visit responding to it. The items in question one could also address this question, so I will delete #13. S.M.
13. Do you believe you would you spend more or less time preparing for a distance learning lesson compared to a traditional clssroom lesson?
A. More
B. Less
14. If one of your students encountered a major technical problem with a computer, what would you do?
A. Let the student discover the solution.
B. Try to fix it myself.
C. Ask a colleague for assistance.
D. Enlist the help of a technician.
Question # 2 touches on the instructors willingness to encounter technical problems. Is there a way to reword the question? If a student has a computer problem they might not be able to communicate with their instructor.
It still weirds me out to mess with someone else's stuff, so for right now I just posted my questions in and deleted an extra #9 that I saw. I will work up towards editing the entire document--I promise! -Aaron
Silvana: Do we need to post all of our own questions here? I thought we were posting only the ones we wanted to include in the final document? I think we have too many open-ended questions? We want to make the survey easy to evaluate too.
Aaron: I agree--too many open-ended questions. I'll leave #14 for now, unless others think it should go. If so, please feel free to remove it. Thanks for setting up #1 as a chart--I am glad that you like that one! Have a good one!
Janelle: Number 10 and 14 were the same question, so I deleted 14.
I don't want to do all of these. Could someone look at these?
START OF THE SCORING GUIDE:
1. Never = 0 pts., 1-3 times a week = 1/2 pt., 4 or more times a week = 1 pt.
2. Yes, ready for online courses. No, not ready for online courses.
3. A. Yes = 1 pt., B. No = 0 pts.
4. A. Agree = 0 pts., B. Disagree = 1 pt.
5. A. 25 or less = 0 pts., B. Over 25 = 1 pt.
6. A, D = 1/2 pt., B, C = 0 pts., E. 1 pt.
7. 0 pts. if no mention of social interaction (discussion boards, blogs, wikis, Adobe Connect presentations), 1 pt. for each time mentioned in their answer
8. Yes = 1 pt., No = 0 pts.
9. Yes = 1 pt., No = 0 pts.
10.
11.
12.
13. More - ready for online courses; less, not ready for online courses
14. D = 1pt.
Those ready for online learning will score between x -x.
Those not ready for distance learning will score between x- x.